Nasty little "SuCKerS"...

One of the draw backs of summer here, and probably everywhere, are those nasty...most dreaded bugs, the blood sucking mosquito. I hate the fact that you usually don't even know they are sucking your blood unless you catch them in the act or until after they have flown away to land on some other helpless victim. I went outside last night and knew that it would be short lived, as they were just landing on me left and right, chewing away at my very white legs. And today I am feeling the "itch" from their vicious attack last night. My dad is the Mosquito Abatement director here in our county, and I have to say...he does a fine job!! I have had many a talks with my dad on the subject of mosquito's and I have learned alot. I wished that there was some way to really get the word out and have people understand (and take serious) the fact that some of the responsibility falls back on us as citizens of our community and county, to help control the rapid growth of mosquito's. It takes a VERY LITTLE amount of water for mosquito's to grow and hatch. They go from larva stage to adult life in a matter of 3 days, and you can have several thousand hatch from the amount of water that sits in a horseshoe print. We all have things in our yards that collects water, either from the rain or from sprinklers. We need to make sure that we turn buckets and cans over so that water doesn't collect  in them. We can make sure that we don't let water sit, as the mosquito's will lay their eggs in it and before long we have helped multiply and replenish the mosquito population. The Mosquito Abatement can only do so much. They go around and treat problem areas with chemicals that help kill the mosquito larva but there is only so much that their limited amount of people can do. They can't treat every puddle, bucket, empty can, tire, cup, etc.... of standing water, that's where we have to step in and keep those emptied. They fog with a special chemical, which kills some of the mosquito's but they can only fog between the hours of 8pm and 8am. There are gnats that resemble a mosquito and for most of us that aren't trained to spot the different breeds of mosquito's, they all look the same to us. So EVERYTHING that is biting us isn't always a mosquito, even though it looks like it is. My dad and his crew at the Mosquito Abatement work really hard to keep the mosquito population down the best that they can. There is no way that they can or ever will be able to extinguish the mosquito population here in our area, BUT they do their best and try to keep them under control. When it rains alot, it leaves alot of sitting water therefore causing more mosquito's to be produced. They really DO try to stay on top of things but there is only so much that their crew can do, there AREN'T 100's of employee's and  the few that they have are covering the ENTIRE county. I hate mosquito's as much (maybe even more) as the next person does, and just because my dad happens to be over the Mosquito Abatement doesn't mean that I am somehow am protected from getting the nasty creatures buzzing around my head too. I am affected just like anyone else, but lets us as neighbors, citizens and people who are on a quest to help rid the world of mosquito's, do our part to help where we can. Watch for sitting water, make sure that we aren't the neighborhood culprit that is helping to breed the nasty pests, eliminate the places that we might have in our yards and on our property that would help breed mosquito's. And the next time you see one of our Mosquito Abatement workers out doing their job...stop and say "THANK YOU", or just call and tell them that you appreciate the hard work that they are out there doing. Its a thankless job....BUT I am sure GRATEFUL THAT THEY ARE OUT THERE FIGHTING them for me, so that I can at least be somewhat free from the nasty little blood suckers!